Like a lot of general-purpose SF conventions, I didn’t do much actual gaming at Convergence. There’s a lot of gaming on the 22nd floor, but a) getting there, with the long lines for the elevators, is a major hassle and b) the games are either not scheduled or not especially appealing to me. So I mostly make do with games I or my friends have, or which are in the library near the consuite.

At some point, I played a game of Zar that managed to be fun while convincing me that there is one person I never, ever want to play anything with again. Later in the con, there was another game where everyone was an expert player, meaning the game was quite fast. I and a friend were moded for the win. Neat!

A friend and I taught ourselves Perry Rhodan: The Cosmic League, which is a two-person trading boardgame with an SF flavor. It was pretty fun, with mechanics that actually made it feel like a trading game, some interesting special action cards, and a pretty tight design that kept the game close until the end.

The last game of Sunday night was a few rounds of an old playing card game: I Doubt It (AKA other things). It was pretty fun, but I can see how the game would lose its appeal if people don’t actually call each other on things. And it can get pretty repetitive. (Though so do some of the other games my group plays!)

Arranging games is becoming tough at Convergence. The con is just so huge (nearly 7000 people this year), with so much going on, that it took many minutes of furious messaging back and forth to get together many of the games I played. Good thing I had my phone and unlimited texts!

Edit: Forgot to mention that Friday afternoon I got the chance to play Artemis Bridge Simulator again. This time, I was the engineer. It wasn’t quite as fun as playing the communications officer, because it basically consisted of constantly monitoring levels of heat and coolant and adjusting accordingly. Not a lot of variety. But the game was still a lot of fun. It was interesting to play with a different setup: the main viewscreen was a hotel TV, and the captain preferred a tactical map rather than a 3D view, so it gave a very different feel. I totally don’t remember what we did — I think we may have gotten ourselves blown up in a minefield. But it was the same intense experience, with everyone falling into their assigned roles. Good stuff!